Salt is one of the most nutrient dense foods to have in a healthy diet. Unpopular opinion historically speaking in the nutrition world? For sure. Lets break this apart this old school belief that “salt is bad for you” and get to the bottom of things.

General overview: there’s a massive difference between REAL mineral salt and white table salt when it comes to your health. Lets jump in!

What is table salt and why is it bad for me?

White table salt is mineral salt that has been completely stripped of its minerals, processed, chlorinated, and chemically transformed. It’s actually been processed to contain MORE sodium ratios in comparison to other minerals that make up salt naturally. Salt isn’t JUST sodium in its natural form, it has other minerals in there, too.

So when it comes to hypertension and salt..

It’s important to understand that water follows salt in the body. More salt, more water. More water, more volume in the bloodstream and the higher blood pressure we’ll have. With that in mind, remember table salt is chemically made to have higher levels of sodium than natural mineral salt.

The claim that “salt causes high blood pressure and contributes to heart conditions” is misleading because most of the studies that validate these claims are done with the dumb ass white table salt that has been processed with HIGHER salt levels. Are you rolling your eyes yet, because I am!

Studies have since been done to prove that consumption of naturally occurring salt actually PRODUCED LESS hypertension!!!!

Check out this study that found, “…consumption of natural sea salt induces less hypertension compared to refined salt in the Dahl salt-sensitive rat.”

Continuing down the path of why table salt is so shitty…

Companies also commonly add anti-caking agents to table salt so the flecks dont stick together + remain more shelf stable. So thats fun, more unnecessary food additives.

Table salt is often fortified with iodine, something that was introduced in the 1920’s after people were suffering health issues related to iodine deficiencies. Ironically, this was happening during the industrialization era when we were stripping our soils of minerals (including iodine) + beneficial bacteria with the use of pesticides, fertilization, and industrial agricultural practices. Synthetic iodine fortification was the cheapest way for the government to address the iodine deficiencies, and 100 years later we’re still doin’ it.

Iodine isn’t bad, of course, thats not the issue. We actually have much higher quality diets these days compared to the 1920’s with plenty of iodine in them – HELLO its been 100 years! These days, its as if the scales have tipped and we may even run the risk of iodine overload according to this study. I also dont believe fortified foods are the answer to nutrient deficiencies- they’re often done with synthetic nutrients our bodies dont absorb + assimilate very well.

What salt should I consume?

REAL SALT is what you should consume- REAL mineral salt that hasn’t been touched my chemicals, synthetic nutrients, or caking agents:

• Redmonds Real Salt – mined from a natural salt mine in Utah and contains 75+ trace minerals including sodium
• Himalayn Pink Salt
• Sea Salt

The bottom line- MINERAL SALT is just fine as it is, we didn’t have to come along and fuck it all up with chemicals and synthetic nutrients in the first place.

It’s already full of 75+ minerals naturally in perfect balance for our health and these minerals are necessary for hundreds of enzymatic reactions, optimal cognitive function, energy levels, sleep patterns, hydration, and much more.

Final Thoughts

Something I often come to the conclusion of when digging deep into food processing and our terrible Standard American Diet + the ingredients that make it up is this…

We are created to eat the food that the earth naturally creates for us. REAL, WHOLE FOOD. Properly prepared, nutrient dense, whole foods. Simple as that.

When we start processing, stripping the soil of nutrients, fucking up important ecosystems, industrializing things – we lose sight of our health over time, from generation to generation.

And then as a population we start trying to synthetically (in a lab) create nutrients only nature can make, and pump them into random yet commonly consumed foods and call it good.

We then look around and wonder why we’re so unhealthy, what happened, where things went wrong. Why our digestion is fucked, why our population is declining, why chronic illness is on the rise, why mental health has declined so much.

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You have more control over your health than you believe you do. Don’t be blind. Take charge of your own health.

Cheering you on from Denver!

XO Cait